Another Exhausting Mission

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 4

Tully followed the tracks of the column from the waterhole. Moffitt stood behind him manning the 50 and keeping a sharp eye out for the Germans. They knew that Dietrich would expect them to come after Troy and they were wary of an ambush. The wind had already begun to erase the tracks but they were still clear enough for Tully to follow. The repairs to the jeep had taken longer than they had anticipated and they were all anxious about their leader.

Hitch was following further back than normal. The jeep was running well but none of them were sure the fix would hold. Tully and Hitch had replaced the damaged parts when they had the spares but they had been forced to try to straighten one of the rods. One of the pins had been beyond repair and the replacement was shorter than the original. It was uncertain if it would hold or work itself free.

Moffitt was watching the hills around them when Tully hit his brakes. Looking ahead, the sergeant didn't have to ask what was wrong.

The two jeeps stopped before they reached the vehicles that had fallen victim to the Arabs. Hitch climbed behind the 50 in his jeep and covered Moffitt and Tully as they went ahead to investigate. Moffitt stayed behind his 50 as Tully slowly drove up to the abandoned vehicles. Once he was next to the wrecks Tully stopped and allowed Moffitt to climb out and check for tracks. There were horse tracks all around, mixed with footprints and tire tracks. Dark pools of dried blood indicated that there were casualties.

"Doc?"

"It's obvious that they were attacked by Arabs," Moffitt answered Tully.

"Who won?"

"It's hard to say. It looks like both sides returned for their dead. The vehicles have been stripped of anything of value, but that could have been done at any time." Moffitt glanced around. "I don't see any graves so both sides took their dead with them." He continued to walk along the still smoldering vehicles. When he got to the first one in line he paused. "This looks like Dietrich's halftrack. Those look like his goggles on the floor." Moffitt took a step closer and his foot kicked something in the sand. He bent down and picked up the luger that Dietrich had dropped.

Tully had been letting the jeep creep along as Moffitt walked the length of the abandoned vehicles. Now he pulled himself high enough to look over the side of the halftrack. "That looks like his regular driver too. I bet he wasn't happy when he got hit."

"No doubt," Moffitt agreed. "He did seem to be particularly fond of this one."

"He saved Dietrich's life once," Hitch called. "Dietrich doesn't forget a thing like that."

"Do you think Dietrich was killed?" Tully asked the question that was on all of their minds.

"There's blood on the floor on the passenger side." Moffitt answered.

"Dietrich's?"

"Perhaps," Moffitt admitted, "but there is also a bloody handprint on the door."

"Is there any sign of Troy?" Hitch called anxiously.

"No, I'm afraid not. At least nothing I can say for sure points to Troy."

"Then he's probably alive," Hitch reasoned. "If he was dead, they would have left his body behind. Why would either side take his body?"

Moffitt looked away from the halftrack to look at Hitch. "Dietrich may have taken him; he can still use him to bait a trap for us if we don't know he's dead."

Hitch looked at the halftrack and frowned. "I won't believe he's dead until I have some proof," the blond answered stubbornly.

Moffitt smiled and looked away. On the other side of the halftrack he spotted what looked like a partial bloody hand print on the rocks on the side of the hill. Climbing down, he began to follow the dark stains on the rocks and on the ground.

"What is it Doc?" Tully called.

"Someone may have managed to escape up the hill," Moffitt answered without looking up. "It looks like two sets of tracks," he called as he continued to follow the trail.

"You'd better take a gun Doc." Tully reached up and snagged a gun to throw to the sergeant. "Be careful, you know what Troy found at the top of a hill."

"Thank you, Tully." Moffitt continued to follow the tracks and droplets of blood to the top of the hill. When he reached the top, he found the signs where two men had crouched behind the rocks. When he tracked them further he found more horse tracks.

"Any luck Doc?" Tully called.

"I'm afraid so," Moffitt answered as he reappeared at the top of the hill. Sliding down toward the jeeps he continued. "I think we should find a place that is a bit safer where we can discuss what we need to do." The sergeant climbed behind his 50 and waved to Hitch. "Time to go."

"Did you find Sarge up there?" Hitch asked as soon as Moffitt had Tully pull his jeep into a wadi.

"Let's go to the top of the dune where we can talk and keep watch at the same time," Moffitt answered.

The two privates exchanged worried looks before following the sergeant.

"I didn't find any bodies up there," Moffitt began before either private could ask a question.

"What did you find?"

"Two men made their way up to the top of that hill," Moffitt began. "I found blood, so one of them was wounded."

"Shouldn't we go look for them?" Hitch asked.

"I also found evidence that they were captured by the Arabs. There is no way of knowing who they were. One of them could have been Troy."

"Then we have to go after them!" Hitch exclaimed.

"Not so fast," Moffitt warned. "I said it may have been Troy. Unfortunately there was no way to tell for sure."

"So what do you want to do?" Tully asked.

"I think that there is the possibility that Troy was one of the men captured on that hill. I want to follow the Arabs and see if I'm right."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Then Dietrich will still be waiting for us," Tully answered.

"Unless Dietrich was the other one who was captured," Moffitt added.

"Dietrich?"

"There was a bloody hand print on the door of the halftrack. And it was Dietrich's halftrack. I also found bloody hand prints climbing that hill."

"It sounds like we're going visiting," Tully drawled.

"Maybe we can get Troy back and capture Dietrich at the same time."

"Sarge first," Hitch replied.

"What if Sarge isn't one of the prisoners?"

"Then we'll trade Dietrich for Troy."

Tully and Hitch began to smile.

"So we are in agreement?" Moffitt asked. "We follow the Arabs and see if we can rescue Dietrich, providing I correctly surmised the identity of the prisoners?"

"Lead on Doc." Tully nodded.

"Sounds good," Hitch agreed.

"Then I suggest we follow the tracks before the wind erases them. These Arabs are dangerous so we shall have to be extremely careful. It appears that they took the prisoners alive so I think we can assume that they will remain that way, at least for the time being." Moffitt rose and led the way to the jeeps. "We will need to walk in and study the camp so they don't hear the jeeps."

Having seen the tracks leading away from the ambush site, Moffitt directed Tully in the right direction. The wind was already erasing the tracks left by the horses but Moffitt was persistent and they slowly closed the gap between them and their quarry.

Moffitt had Tully stop so he could take a closer look at the tracks. After a close examination he returned to his jeep and had Tully leave the trail. They moved closer to the base of the hills where they could find cover if necessary. The sergeant used binoculars to follow the trail, being careful to avoid any flashes that would reveal their presence. As the sun began to set the sergeant called a halt.

"I think we should wait until they camp for the night," Moffitt informed the privates. "Once they set up camp we can move in and take a look. That way there is less chance of them seeing us coming."

"But we don't know where they are going to camp," Tully protested.

"There are only a few places large enough to hold a camp of that size. We'll check them one by one until we find them."

"Okay Doc, you know best," Tully agreed.